Conference Room 325 was packed with lawmakers, staff, citizens and others, many of them waiting to hear of the fate of HB 2569, the civil unions bill. They included on one end of the civil unions extreme the former Hawaii Associate Justice Steve Levinson and the Biker for Christ on the other.

The House this week proposed amendments to allow for what Judiciary Chair Gil Keith-Agaran called “narrow” exemptions for religious groups that don’t wish to have ceremonies performed in their facilities.

There is some doubt that the Senate will accept this, however, and Judiciary-Labor Chair Clayton Hee now has his own amendment in mind.

The bill has been pushed to 530 p.m., along with a whole mess of other measures. The clock is ticking to a 6 p.m. deadline, and it looks like time could run out for many bills, barring an extension of session — or a wholesale epiphany.